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Leominster's education funding in doubt

By Jack Minch, jminch@sentinelandenterprise.com

Updated:
06/09/2014 07:49:44 AM EDT

LEOMINSTER -- The School Committee voted to recommend a $69.5 million budget to the City Council last week, but there is mounting concern the city can't keep funding education at the lowest legal limits.

It's expected that figure will be about $600,000 over the state-mandated net-school spending minimum.

The state's Chapter 70 aid, combined with the city's contribution, equals the net school spending requirement, according to the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education. The state determines how much the community must contribute.

"We have to increase our net school spending so we can improve programs that increase test scores," said Ward 4 Committee member Nona Ojala. "We've got to realize we can't keep going by net school spending. We have to spend more if we want to improve our community."

The schools need to fund more personnel and technology, she said.

Mayor Dean Mazzarella voted against the proposed budget.

"The budget that was approved would require me to go back and make cuts to other city departments," Mazzarella said.

Ojala points to the top nine questions prospective homebuyers ask about schools, according to the Worcester Regional Association of Realtors.

They ask about graduation rates and those who go to college but also about student-to-teacher ratio, technological resources, class sizes and test scores, Ojala said.

She suggested the city dip into its free-cash reserves to further support the schools.

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Former City Council President Sue Chalifoux Zephir, who ran against Mayor Dean Mazzarella in last fall's election, said some of the low scores on standardized testing in some schools is a result of low investments.

The city spends close to the net school-spending limit set by the state, then on top of that charges the School Department for services such as snow plowing, overhead for the comptroller's office and security, Zephir said.

"That $6 million comes off the top of the net-school spending, which means the School Department is getting a lot less than the net school-spending minimum," Zephir said.

Since 2008 the city has added only a part-time position, not including the grants that funded Police Department hiring, but the School Department has added about 40 positions, Mazzarella said.

"City departments have certainly sacrificed all these years and we've built new schools, repaired schools," he said. "Taxpayers have spent a good deal of money on schools, but it comes down (to), can you support a budget that would cut other city departments?"

The teachers and administration have done a great job with the resources they have, said School Committee Vice Chairman Bill Comeau.

"I don't think money is necessarily the answer to everything," he said. "There are districts that spend more money than us that have the same or similar test results."

The district does need more money for investments in technology and more classroom space but will survive without it, Comeau said.

Superintendent of Schools James Jolicoeur asked for $300,000 for technology in the budget last year and the city recently funded the request, Comeau said.

The School Department is expected to ask for another $250,000 as part of a five-year plan, he said.

"That's not going to address all of our needs," Comeau said. "It's what I think is reasonable to expect."

The state is part of the funding problem, said at-large Committeewoman Donna DiNinno.

Transportation costs aren't part of the net school-spending minimum and they are going up in the second year of a three-year contract, DiNinno said.

The state funds transportation costs for regional school districts but not community districts, which leaves the city and school department trying to fund, she said.

The city has given the schools about $2.6 million each of the last couple of years, which is about $1 million less than needed, she said. The School Department's revolving account is only about 1 percent of the budget.

"It's a real problem," DiNinno said.

The School Committee has scheduled a public hearing on the proposed budget June 16.

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